Every drop of blood given, a life remains
Compared to other countries in the world, the rate of voluntary blood donation in Vietnam is still very low. Every year, the amount of blood collected only meets over 30% of the needs of patients.
In Nghe An, according to a survey by the relevant authorities, we need at least 60,000 units of blood each year, but currently we can only meet a very small percentage: about 10%. The number of blood donors in Nghe An is only 0.17% of healthy people of blood donation age. Therefore, many patients have to accept being transferred to higher levels and many of them have no chance of survival.
To promote and encourage the whole population to participate in donating blood to save lives, on April 7, 2000, the Prime Minister signed Decision 43/QD-TTg to designate April 7 every year as the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day. This is also the founding day of the World Health Organization with the aim of "bringing a high level of health to all peoples", considered World Health Day. Since then, we have had many policies to promote voluntary blood donation, launching blood donation festivals that have a great influence in the community.
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In the photo: Youth Union members of the Provincial CCQ block voluntarily donate blood - Photo: T. Le |
Many examples and noble deeds have been honored, and many patients have been saved. Leading this movement are the youth union members, typically students in universities. At Vinh University, we have deployed a voluntary blood donation registration point since April 2009. Our province has also established a Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center, which has been in operation since September 2010, to implement the Ministry of Health's policy of centralizing blood banks. In March, on the occasion of the Youth Union's founding day, nearly 1,000 cadres, soldiers, and youth union members in Vinh City also participated in voluntary blood donation.
However, in the past, we have only launched the movement in a few peak periods, in big cities, universities, but have not expanded the blood donation target to large rural areas, agencies, and units. The target group actively participating in blood donation is still mainly young people and students. Many people, including many officials and civil servants, are still "on the sidelines". The propaganda work for blood donation has not been extensive, causing many people to not know that donating a certain amount of blood in the body does not affect health, but rather is an opportunity for the body to produce more abundant new red blood cells.
"Every drop of blood given, a life remains", "Sharing a drop of blood, giving hope", "Connecting hearts - connecting lives"... these slogans have expressed all the noble meaning of the act of donating blood to save lives. To multiply hope for life, any of us can donate blood.
Do not hesitate to lend your arms, of responsibility and duty, to save people because tomorrow, we may need such arms.
Let me end this article with a young person's sharing: "In this world, everyone loves what belongs to them, of course. Many people dare to share their money and assets with those less fortunate. But surely many people do not easily share their blood with others... I go to donate blood because I want my blood to save someone, a baby or a mother? Then I am so happy!"
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